Sonnier v. Time, Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 April 1959
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 7063.
• Citation: 172 F. Supp. 576
• Parties: Saul SONNIER v. TIME, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

172 F. Supp. 576

Saul SONNIER v. TIME, INC.

Civ. A. No. 7063.

United States District Court W. D. Louisiana, Opelousas Division.

April 7, 1959.

William Harris McBride, Lafayette, La., for plaintiff.

Harold R. Medina, Jr., New York City, Cicero C. Sessions, New Orleans, La., for defendant.

HUNTER, District Judge.

Plaintiff sues defendant, Time, Inc., for damages purportedly resulting from the alleged publication by Time, Inc., of a false advertisement of the Flint-Kote Company in Time's monthly magazine, House and Home. Jurisdiction is pegged on diversity.

This is a suit for an alleged libel. Defendant attacks service, and consequently, the jurisdiction of the court, upon the grounds that it is a corporate citizen of New York and is domiciled there, and is not qualified to do business in Louisiana, and has no agent for service of process in Louisiana.¹ The effect of this contention is that while Sonnier could bring his suit in the federal district court in the corporation's home state of New York, no such suit could be maintained in a federal court in the state where Sonnier lives, and where the alleged false advertisement was likely to do him the most harm.

Numerous affidavits have been submitted. They are attached hereto, accepted as factual, and made a part hereof.

While they are more fully elaborated and differently emphasized by the parties, the facts as fairly summarized reveal in part: that the defendant has a wide circulation in Louisiana, and that third parties, independent contractors and the U. S. Mail are in essence the media by which this end is achieved; that the solicitation, distribution and circulation of defendant's magazines and the promotion thereof were and are a continuous and big business; that Time has expressly authorized twelve representatives to solicit subscriptions for it in the state, seven of whom are classified as "college bureau representatives" and five of whom are classified as "independent representatives"; that defendant has authorized four large organizations to take subscriptions for it to some of its magazines² through subscription campaigns promoted through the active solicitation of the school children of Louisiana; all subscription copies of Time, Inc.'s publications are shipped by U. S. Mail direct from Time, Inc.'s printing plants (none of which are in Louisiana); in the case of news stand distribution, the magazines are bundled at the printing plants for distribution by truck or railway express to various local distributors in Louisiana and elsewhere, who in turn distribute the magazines to news stands for sale; the distributors acquire the magazines by outright purchase from Time, Inc.

Service here was made on defendant by serving the Secretary of State of Louisiana, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 13:3471 (5) (d).

"Doing Business"

Defendant insists that its activities within the State were not sufficient to manifest its "presence" there, and that in its absence it was not amenable to suit in the state, and consequently any state statute authorizing suit against it under the circumstances is offensive to the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Since Pennoyer v. Neff, 5 Otto 714, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565, the Supreme Court has held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment places some limit on the power of state courts to enter binding judgments against persons not served with process within their boundaries; but just where this line of limitation falls has been a subject upon which American courts have labored for half a century. Looking back over this long history of litigation, a trend is clearly discernible toward expanding the permissible scope of state jurisdiction over foreign corporations and other non-residents.³ A large part of the business in each and every state is today transacted by corporations existing under the laws of another state. To adjust the practical administration of justice to this fact of present day economics the highest court in our land has in recent years refused to be bound by old rigid concepts about "doing business." Rather recently, in International Shoe Co. v. State of Wash., 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95, and McGee v. International Life Ins. Co., 355 U.S. 220, 78 S.Ct. 199, 2 L.Ed.2d 223, the Supreme Court proclaimed that due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it, such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.

Turning to this case, we think it apparent that the due process clause does not preclude Louisiana from enacting legislation, making the defendant amenable to process here. Circulation is the source of life to the magazine publisher. Not only are readers a source of revenue, but their number is an important factor in attracting advertising and determining rates therefor. Whatever the technical legal relationship may be between defendant on the one hand and his Louisiana representatives and Louisiana distributors on the other, the latter are but the conduit between the publisher and the reader, and they certainly establish contacts that are essential to the very existence of this defendant. Certainly, from the standpoint of fair play and substantial justice, this suit should be handled in Louisiana. Certainly, it is true that from the standpoint of convenience the Western District of Louisiana is the forum for the trial rather than New York, where no witnesses are available. The activities of the defendant in Louisiana through its representatives and distributors were neither irregular nor casual. They were and still are systematic and continuous. They result in a large volume of state business, in...